The Polish-Austrian sociologist and political theorist Ludwig Gumplowicz (1838-1909) is considered one of the more significant "conflict" theorists in sociology.

Ludwig Gumplowicz was born on March 9, 1838, the son of prominent Polish Jews living in Cracow. His early career was as a journalist, but in 1875 he began his university career as a teacher of law at Graz, where he remained until shortly before his death.

Gumplowicz viewed sociology as the study of groups in conflict. Sociology was dominated by the social Darwinists, who crudely applied Charles Darwin's theories of "the survival of the fittest" and "the struggle for existence" to the development of human societies. Gumplowicz and others refined the application of these theories to society into a sociological system known as conflict theory. The theory, now considered to be somewhat dated, exercised an extraordinary influence in political, social, and legal studies, an influence which continues to this day...